"We have two lives, Roy...The life we learn with and the life we live after that."
: "The Natural" (Movie)
I heard this the other day and it struck me funny. I've thought about it since, so I decided to break my online silence and start to write again, and share what's in this head of mine. Hmm,...Two lives.
Do we really live two lives? and then I naturally would ask myself ..."Which one am I in the middle of now?" I suppose for me, as I think about this, it makes sense that the things we are meant to learn, ARE learned, then we are able to be at peace and live the rest of our life in peace and in harmony having finally learned the lessons we came to learn. If we DON'T learn them, then we are still in the middle of the circle that causes us to face the same lessons (over and over again) until we finally get it. As I think about what I want out of my life at this point,.. I can only say that all I want is PEACE right now. Which actually indicated that I don't feel peace much in my life. I feel at odds and in conflict a lot of the time. If there's conflict, then there is pain, where there is pain, there isn't much bliss, where there isn't much bliss, then I have to look in the mirror and change some things that will allow the bliss and the peace to flow again.
The first life,.. the one that we learn with,.. The silliness of life that we get out of our system. Becoming an adult and putting away that childish side of me. That's not the "life we learn with" (to me). Once those silly things are put away (some people never get there, even in their older years), we then, with our very best efforts and intentions, we still stumble and fall and learn. Doing our very best, jobs or businesses fail, and things don't always work out. We learn and adapt. Relationships, with stars in our eyes and hearts SO full, we try with our absolute best foot forward, and yet still,.. things don't work out all the time. We turn circles and continue with the same patterns and yet still don't learn the intended lessons. At what point does the life we are learning with, turn into the life we live after that? Perhaps there is a flaw in the movie quote. I would say that we haven't ever arrived, yet we should always continue learning. Learning is a lifelong pursuit. Yet I don't thing that's what the quote was talking about. I think it's painting to two lives where the first we learn our lessons (some never do),...yet then we finally find a balance in life where we are at peace, happy, and settled. The inner storm isn't there anymore, and we have learned to be at peace inside. We let go of the mistakes we made, the mistakes others have made, and learn that there just isn't any reason to carry that around with us any longer. The unnecessary weight of pain, guilt, and shame, that we carry on our shoulders. Just forgive it ALL and let go.
Perhaps that is a better to think of it. The life we lived as we would not let things go, and we would guard our stance and positions with ego and fear,..then finally letting go of it all and then living that 2nd life of freedom from our baggage of "stuff" that we somehow felt so inclined to hold onto. This person wronged me there, and this other person or circumstance wronged me over there too! Victim thinking and hanging onto it all. Justified by our own hurt narrative,.. then finally seeing that it’s all cancer to hold onto those things. Let them go,.. and then LIVE! Other circumstances arise,...LET THEM GO IMMEDIATELY! I suppose we get better at it, because that ol' ego wants to live. Oh boy does that ego want to live and be the victim. Let it all go as Michael Singer says in his book "The Untethered Soul"...Chapter 8, which is entitled "Let Go Now or Fall"... Wow,.. how I have been blessed to have this chapter sent to me today. I was asked to read it slowly with an open heart. I did as I was invited to do. With prayer before reading it, and an open heart, I did read it. It logically yet gently taught me to just let go. I loved it. I am so grateful, humbled, and filled with grace and love.
Perhaps it’s on each and every one of us, to decide when we’ll begin that “2nd life”, which only begins when each of us decides to forgive ourselves, others, and circumstances; when we can finally live that second life. That one of PEACE that I believe many want. It’s on US to just decide that it’s time to let go, forgive, and have and experience that PEACE!
Yes please!
